Today was my husband's 41st birthday...and my 42nd. We share the same birthday and this is a fact that has bonded us since high school. And one of the main reasons we decided to get hitched. Kidding! Truth be told, I would like to have my own day, but if I have to share with someone, he's a great birthday buddy. The free dinner is reason enough (this I will explain later).
Today was a fun filled, jam packed day. We started out the morning doing the Weight Watchers Walk-it 5k with the
Running Room. I brought my hubby, the boy and the mutt. It was a total family affair and even though Jules only held out for the first 2.5k loop, I finished the 5k with my gals Enz and Pauline. Honestly, kids are lazy. This is what Jules looked like during the walk.
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I pulled him for 2.5k, then handed him off to the hubby.
Thank goodness the course was a loop!
In his defense though, he wouldn't have kept up.
Isn't he adorable:) |
After the 5k walk, it was back home for coffee and breaky. We waited around until after lunch and then sent Jules off to his best bud's birthday party. This gave my hubby, Enz and I the opportunity to hit the Rail Trail for a run. My hubby is just starting out, so we ran 2:1 intervals up a steady incline. He did awesome. He listened to his body and knew exactly when he should stop. All in all he ran about 2.5k.
I continued with Enz to the 3k marker, then turned around and ran back the same 3k in 23:57 with no walk breaks. Yesterday was the first time I tried to run without walk breaks. I ran the same 6k and ran for 34 minutes straight yesterday. I knew I didn't need walk breaks anymore because my breathing stays in a fairly comfortable and steady rhythm. Sometimes the walk breaks I was taking barely changed my breathing at all, so I knew that I could try to run straight and I can. My next goal will be to run 5k with no walk breaks. I'll work on this over the next couple of weeks.
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| Jules and I hamming it up before leaving for dinner. |
All in all I clocked 11k today. Five walking, and 6 running. That's over 1000 calories burned. Because my hubby and I share a birthday, we go to
Tucker's Marketplace once a year to celebrate. It's an all you can eat buffet in Ontario. It's not a bad deal. For $13 and some change, my family of three had dinner. The final bill included Jules's dinner ($4), my Perrier, my hubby's diet coke, Jules's milk and our dinners (regularly $22 each)...for free. If you go on your birthday, you eat for free with picture ID. My waitress was happy. We left her a hefty tip!
I eat out
A LOT because of work, and life in general. And I have always been able to stick to my plan. Today I ate chicken, turkey, salmon, roast beef and lots of veggies. I left feeling pretty darned satisfied and I ate until I was full.
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| My first plate included, roasted chicken (skin removed), salmon, sauteed cabbage and cucumber salad. |
Because it was my birthday, and I burned over a thousand calories, I did phase 2 of
Dr. Poon's diet. I deserved it for Pete's sake! These pictures are testament to the fact that I am not on a starvation diet (as some people may think...namely my father). I eat a lot. More so now that I have been running. Eating the proper foods raises your metabolism, as does interval running. And as an added bonus, I never have stomach problems anymore. I
LOVE this eating plan. This is a good thing because I'll follow it (with more inclusions on maintenance) for the rest of my life. Not because I have to but because I want to. I have never felt better!
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| My second plate included, turkey, roast beef, zucchini and carrots. |
Fine dining this place is not, but it's not bad...for free! Hey beggars can't be choosers! And I left feeling perhaps a little too full. Who doesn't love turkey? Trust me, if you are dedicated to succeeding in your journey, no restaurant can be tempting enough to stray. There are always options that will fit your dietary needs. And I am not timid about asking for exclusions, inclusions any kinds of changes necessary to a menu item. I send food back if it's not prepared the way I asked. I've never been told "no" yet and like I said, I eat out a lot (11 times last month for work, 4 personal).
All in all, this is probably one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. I got to do a lot of family things, but I also got to do something special with my hubby. He says he wants to start running and I want to encourage him as much as possible. Who knows, maybe one day we'll run a marathon together.
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| The birthday runners. We just got back from our first ever run together! |
